PHH Names New President for Its Mortgage Unit

Terance W. Edwards has replaced H. Robert Nagel as president of PHH Mortgage Services.

Previously, Mr. Edwards was vice president of investor relations and treasurer at PHH Corp., the mortgage unit's parent company. Mr. Edwards joined PHH in 1980 and became director of mortgage financing at the mortgage unit in 1984. In 1990, he became senior vice president of secondary marketing there.

Mr. Nagel will head PHH Corp.'s financial services unit, according to a company spokesman.

"Bob has growing-a-business knowledge and Terry has industry knowledge," the spokesman said. Part of Mr. Nagel's responsibilities at the finance unit will be to add a broader range of insurance products, he said.

PHH US Mortgage Corp., Cherry Hill, N.J., is one of the largest affinity lenders in the nation. Lenders with such agreements make loans to members of a group or association. PHH has an affinity arrangement with USAA Federal Savings Bank, a unit of United Services Automobile Association, an organization of current and former military officers that is the nation's premier affinity-group source of home loans.

A mortgage product salesman at a major Wall Street investment bank who does business with PHH - and who worked with Mr. Edwards when he headed secondary marketing at PHH - said Mr. Edwards is well regarded in the industry and tends to be bottom-line oriented because of his training as an accountant.

A former employee of the mortgage unit who declined to be identified said that Mr. Nagel was brought in to turn around the company, which he did successfully.

"Bob is a genius. He is great for the turnaround and initial building of a company, but once the company got to that size, it required a senior management team working together, and he couldn't do that," the former employee said.

Alex Hart, a stock analyst at Ferris Baker Watts, Baltimore, said the management shift was a sign that the parent company is satisfied with the mortgage unit and believes it no longer needs stringent oversight.

Another former PHH employee described Mr. Edwards as "a Kunisch man," referring to PHH Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, Robert D. Kunisch.

"It's probably true to say that Kunisch wants to keep tighter reigns on the unit," the former employee said.

Roy Meierhenry, senior vice president and chief operating officer, will assume the responsibilities of treasurer and investor relations chief until a replacement for Mr. Edwards is found. Mr. Edwards will now report to Eugene A. Arbaugh, a corporate senior vice president of the real estate services group.

PHH Corp.'s earnings for its third fiscal quarter, which ended in January, were $19.5 million, or $1.10 per share. That is a 12% increase over the same quarter the previous year. The mortgage banking side provided $49.6 million in revenue, up from $29.5 million in the same quarter last year.